Fast And Furious 6 cammer thrown in slammer for nearly three years

Man jailed for dodgy cinema recording of Hollywood movie

A man who illicitly recorded action film Fast And Furious 6, uploaded it to the internet and then sold copies online has been locked up for nearly three years.

The jail term was handed down to Philip Danks, 25, of Livingstone Road, Bloxwich on Thursday, according to the Walsall Advertiser.

A copy of the Universal Pictures' movie was uploaded to the 'net just 24 hours after Danks escaped with a recording of the film at the Showcase Cinema in Walsall on 17 May 2013.

It was subsequently downloaded more than 700,000 times, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) said in a statement about the cammer.

Danks used Facebook to sell copies of the film for £1.50 a pop. He also attempted to flog other movies such as Iron Man 3.

FACT said it was able to identify Danks by linking to the online name of the uploader "TheCod3r". Foolishly, the cammer gave the game away on one website where he apparently wrote:

Enjoy the movie, it took me 2 attempts to get this movie for release as my first camcorder went dead (terrible battery life) 40 mins into the film and I had to go back and watch it a second time to get a decent cam with a better camcorder. A watchable copy until something better comes along.

He was cuffed by West Midlands cops just five days after making the recording.

Danks was sentenced to 33 months in jail and received a 12-month community order to work unpaid for 120 hours. Wolverhampton Crown Court had earlier heard him plead guilty to charges of committing offences under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 and Fraud Act 2006.

Lobby group FACT said it was pleased with the jail term.

"Danks was responsible for recording, uploading and distributing the film and was clearly unconcerned at the time about the consequences of his actions, perhaps believing that the internet gave him anonymity," said FACT director general Kieron Sharp. ®